Gasoline prices are only going up. That means all of us are spending more on fuel, and it's particularly bad for those of us who have bigger vesicles that need more fuel to move themselves around. While maybe farmers and farm communities can partially escape the emerging energy crisis through bio-fuels, the vast majority of people will end up paying high fuel prices.

So you want to keep your truck to go off-roading and do work around the farm but work in the city? There is a simple solution: mass transit. Buses aren't particularly fuel efficient but they certainly use far less fuel per rider then your truck. Your truck may offer you freedom, but if you work downtown then in most cases you have to be in a parking garage, where they won't let you leave on the same ticket until the end of the day.

On the bus you might not have the same time to be alone or listen to the radio in your truck, but it does free you up from the hassle of driving. Driving in the city simply is not fun, and most of us would much rather burn up gasoline transversing the countryside doing fun things rather then being stuck in the city for endless hours. Why waste the precious miles of your truck's life in city traffic when you could be off-roading?

The reality is as nice as mass transit is for commuting to your job, it's not free of problems. Transit authorities tend to poorly maintain their buses, and as it's stands buses continue to be mostly around serving the poorest minority neighborhoods. The majority of bus runs are only in the inner-city where dangerous criminals and drug addicts ride, but there are a few routes to rural service. Yet, it seems that things are changing, and there are an increasing number of services to major suburban and rural routes and bring you quickly to downtowns across the state.

I know when I complete college, and are ready to move on out, I'm moving to a place not far from bus service. I like my truck, but it's going to be for the weekends to enjoy burning up that limited supply of expensive fuel doing what I like to do. The country is where my pickup belongs, and I don't want to bring it downtown. Hopefully one on one, we will change things, and get the critical mass necessary to ensure adequate service from both rural and suburban American to our cities.